Caerphilly railway station

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Caerphilly railway station

This was Caerphilly’s second railway station. It dates from 1871, when the Rhymney Railway opened its direct line to Cardiff. The station was enlarged in 1913, when it was handling about 70 passenger services per day as well as the constant passage of freight trains.

The Rhymney Railway (RR) opened in 1858 to connect ironworks in the Rhymney area to Cardiff. It had vital support from the Bute family, who planned to develop coal mines in the Rhymney Valley. The track skirted the west of Caerphilly, where the town’s first station was sited, and descended steeply to join the Taff Vale Railway (TVR) at Taff's Well.

Aerial photo of Caerphilly station in 1930
Caerphilly railway station in 1930, courtesy of the RCAHMW and its Coflein website

Relations between the railways quickly soured, and in 1864 Parliament authorised the RR to dig a long tunnel under Caerphilly Common and create independent access to Cardiff docks. The RR was helped by the mighty London & North Western Railway, which connected to the RR north of Rhymney. Until the First World War, it was possible to board a LNWR coach at Caerphilly and alight many hours later in Manchester or Liverpool! 

The first stationmaster was Thomas Wright, previously master of Walnut Tree Bridge station, Taff’s Well. In 1878 his daughter Emily had the honour of crowning celebrity harpist Walter Barker with a laurel wreath after the musician arrived on the 7.27pm train, before being carried through the town on the shoulders of two men while a band played. Thomas’ obituary in 1897 said he was well known to travellers on the Rhymney line, including excursionists from Cardiff.

He was succeeded by former signalman William Matthews. He had sent the first passenger train through Caerphilly tunnel, on 1 April 1871, while working in the signal box south of the tunnel. In 1909 his 12 years as stationmaster were marked with a testimonial presentation at the Windsor Hotel. He received a walking stick from local RR staff, a gold watch and a purse of gold. His wife Ann was given a silver tea and coffee service.

Caerphilly became a railway hub, with secondary passenger services to Pontypridd and to Machen (where the track joined the line from Bargoed to Newport). The Great Western Railway took over in 1923, and developed the RR's locomotive works, east of Caerphilly station, as its main South Wales workshops.

The enlarged station had two island platforms (surrounded by tracks) and a dead-end bay platform. Passengers bought their tickets in the building which still exists above the tracks (alongside Mountain Road) and descended to their required platform.

The aerial photo, courtesy of the Royal Commission on the Ancient & Historical Monuments of Wales, shows the station in 1930. It is from the Aerofilms Collection of the National Monuments Record of Wales.

After the closure of secondary lines, Caerphilly station reverted to having just two platforms, with a bus station alongside, in 1973. A new booking office and entrance was built, for convenient interchange between trains and buses, but the building and canopy on platform 1 were retained. Notice the letters GWR cast in the legs of the benches outside the waiting room.

Caerphilly station is now a park-and-ride facility for commuters, and the frequency of trains surpasses any earlier period in history. In June 2018 Transport for Wales announced plans to electrify the railway through Caerphilly, for new “tri-mode” trains which will be able to draw electricity from overhead wires or batteries or use diesel engines.

Postcode: CF83 1JR    View Location Map

Copies of the old photo and other images are available from the RCAHMW. Contact: nmr.wales@rcahmw.gov.uk

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